


Tyrant's Rending

by JackTheBard



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-13
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-05-01 09:38:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5201063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackTheBard/pseuds/JackTheBard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A sinister group plans to take over the world with cutthroat methods, and they start with Beacon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Zeroes across the Board

“Let’s start this party with a bang,” the man said, staring down the barrel of an exceptionally long sniper rifle, through a scope that magnified his target in the walled city of Vale. He would have been an unassuming, borderline diminutive man were it not for the fact that he had a rifle as long as he was tall pressed into his shoulder. Mousy brown hair, a pair of horn-rimmed glasses and a slim frame marked this man’s presence, but he was merely a channel for the gun.

“Are you talking to yourself again?” came the query through the earpiece.

“You know it,” he responded, the lit cigarette dangling out of the corner of his mouth twitching as his lips moved, “Lining up the first shot.”

“You will have forty seconds before the huntsmen and huntresses arrive. Make them count. After they arrive, eradicate your targets with extreme prejudice,” the voice in his earpiece continued, “You saw your primary target, correct?”

“Yeah, I know how this goes,” he continued, taking a long drag, exhaling the smoke and watching how it moved, as well as how the flags down his line of sight kept moving.

“Then good luck, Kaiser. We’ll have someone airlift you out after the Grimm get in.”

“Catch you on the flipside, Zadkiel,” he responds, and squeezes the trigger.

A gout of flame bursts forth from the muzzle of his rifle, and sails down the sightlines into the first of about a dozen large charges set at the base of Vale’s walls. Half of them were situated around Beacon, so he fired once again, then again, each shot sailing true and detonating the charge, bursting and letting the Grimm flood into the city. Sirens and screams went up, and Kaiser swore, firing off four more shots and detonating four more charges before changing position.

He packed up his rifle and dashed along the wall, watching as the black, soulless beings began to overrun street after street. The Grimm swarmed into Beacon, where the majority of the Huntsmen were getting ready to set out, and Kaiser took up his sights again. He scanned clear across the city, searching for the professors, the strategists. He was playing this purely tactical.

Then his primary target stepped into view.

Professor Glynda Goodwitch cast Grimm aside with her semblance, her lips curled into a snarl as she started to mend the walls, and Kaiser saw his opportunity. She was the only one that had a greater reserve of pure reparative energy than Zadkiel, which meant that they would hold the only key to saving Vale after the city was overrun.

He took the shot.

His bolt flew true, and it caught Glynda right in the temple, her head turning into an orb of orange light before dissolving into ash.

“Bingo,” he said, the cigarette in the corner of his mouth glowing almost gleefully as the headless body fell, and he fired away, opening season on the Huntsmen and Huntresses of Beacon and Vale. Some of the more skilled professors, such as Port and Oobleck, evaded his shots by keeping their heads down or standing behind Grimm, blocking his shot. Kaiser let them go. They wouldn’t last long anyway.

He clicked his tongue and took another long draw on the cigarette, letting a plume of smoke out the other corner of his mouth. Where the hell was Ozpin? Considering the old bastard’s tendency to stay up in his little tower, away from all that lay before him, Kaiser shouldn’t have been surprised. He never took an active hand in things, even when his damn tower had Nevermore circling overhead and Beowolves storming its front door.

His lips curled into a snarl and he brought the rifle back up onto his shoulder, flicking the cigarette into the soon to be fallen city. He held a finger up to his earpiece and snarled, “My work is done, Zad. Send in for pickup.”

“Copy that,” Zadkiel responded, “pickup inbound.”  
Within moments, the roar of the chopper announced its arrival, though the citizens of Vale wouldn’t be able to hear it. They had bigger problems on hand. Kaiser jumped into the open door presented to him, watching the city of Vale fade into a smaller and smaller speck in the distance.

So began the rise of Tyrant’s Rending.


	2. The Fall of Beacon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The walls have been broken, and its champions leap to defend the city. But how can they save the city if they can't even save themselves?

The explosions had ruptured the walls and screams were quick to follow. Ruby thought it was no coincidence that they were near Beacon.

“Weiss, Yang, Blake!” She called, trying to summon her team to fight the Grimm that were undoubtedly making their way into the walls. “We need to…” She’s cut off by the sounds of gunfire, screaming, and shouts for assistance outside the gates of Beacon, carrying through the hallways as if a Nevermore had picked them up and soared with ill words on its ill wings.

Ruby didn’t have time to react, instead just grabbing Crescent Rose and dashing outside of her dorm, hooking tight corners to save time and hopefully lives.

When she got to the front doors of Beacon Academy, the place was a warzone.

An Ursa tore into the abdomen of a kid in her history class, filling Ruby with a sense of illness, before Dr. Oobleck smashed it aside with his thermace. Someone from her Grimm Studies class ducked under a King Tajitu’s bite in order to avoid her head being taken off, only to have Beowulves tackle her, mauling her to death and feasting on her remains. Ruby, so distracted, so sickened by the fact that people she had known for almost a full year were getting torn to shreds before her very eyes, almost didn’t see the Boarbatusk charging towards her, only to have its head blown to smithereens by Crescent Rose’s sniper rifle aspect.

Ruby had no choice but to charge in and hold the line.

She fought furiously, decapitating Tajitu, firing at hordes of Death Stalkers, driving the blade of her scythe into Boarbatusk after Beowolf after Ursa, only to find that there was no end to them.

The rest of her team came to fight at her side in due time, reinforcing the bulwark of Huntsmen, Huntresses, and Huntsfolk-in-training, all fighting for their lives and for the lives of each other. Were it not for the gore and corpses that lay in front of the Academy’s main gates, it would be the portrait of humanity’s fight against the Grimm. Were it not for the gore and corpses that lay in front of the academy’s main gates, it would seem like the students and teachers of Beacon were winning.

The combat professor next to Weiss stumbled back, and the walls of warriors fighting for their lives buckled, then collapsed as one of the other team’s captains was sliced in half by a slash from an elder Beowolf, causing his teammates to turn and flee. A lot more students and professors died when the Grimm flooded into the bulwark, causing more cries and screams to rise up.

“Fall back!” The professors cried, “Fall back to the gate!”

Teams RWBY, SSSN, and JNPR all fell back as requested, followed quickly by team CFVY. About half of the teachers and students that had stood and fought fell and died, the others made it into the halls of Beacon and kept running, wouldn’t stop until they were home free, until they got to the helipads on the roof and airlifted out.

Ruby was the last one inside, and turned around to see Professor Port firing shots and smacking away Grimm in front of the door, blood spattering all over him until the Grimm backed away, realizing he was a stout wall of man not to be trifled with.

Ruby called out, “Professor Port! Come on and close the doors!” Hoping that he’d listen to reason and fall back into the citadel of Beacon Academy. He only responded by shaking off some of the Grimm blood that covered him, letting out a low chuckle.

“Miss Rose, I regret to inform you that it will take a lot more than a wall of Grimm to overcome me, make me turn tail and run!” He fired a couple more shots into the cluster of Grimm that started to close in on him. “Get to safety, Miss Rose. I will not be here long.”

Ruby, stubborn as always, drove her scythe blade into the ground and began to fire shots into the mass of Grimm, taking off heads and doing everything in her power to hold the horde off from overcoming Professor Port.

The man just laughed, his teeth shining white under a dripping red mustache, and moved more deftly than Ruby had ever seen him move before. He was a hurricane of old timey wrath, using his weapon with the most brutal efficiency, laughing all the while.

“Do you know who you face?” he shouted at the Grimm, decapitating three Ursa in a single swing. “I am Peter Thaddeus Port, Professor of Grimm Studies at Beacon Academy! I have slain more of your kind than I care to count and-” he stopped dead, one hand going to clutch his chest as he groaned loudly, still firing shots into the Grimm that attempted to swarm over him.

“Professor!” Ruby called, not realizing that he was hurting so badly, still assisting him with her suppressing fire.

“This… is nothing, Miss Rose!” He said, standing up straight and continuing to fight, though his movements were labored. “The day a simple heart attack does me in is the day I call myself a failure!” An Ursa’s claws raked across his back, causing him to let out a sharp cry of pain before using his blunderbuss to blast the creature’s face off. “Go and rejoin your team! I will be along shortly!” He continued, though the Grimm seemed less afraid of him now that they realized he was not invincible.

Ruby knew there was no arguing with the man, and reluctantly turned away, dashing down the hallway with her Semblance. The last thing she heard before she got out of earshot was “I am Professor Peter Thaddeus Port! Huntsman and-” he was cut off by a roar of triumph from a Tajitu, marking the end of his heroic sacrifice. 

Ruby just ran.  
Her speed carried her down the hallway to meet with the four teams she knew best, with Coco and Yatsuhashi bringing up the rear. Coco gestured for Ruby to follow, yelling, “Come on, Rose! Get moving! The airlift has started!” She saw the Grimm turn a corner, and grumbled, “You have got to be shitting me…”

Coco buckled down and brought her purse in front of her, the minigun’s barrels extending and starting to rotate rapidly. Yatsuhashi stopped and shouted, “Coco, come on!”

“Go! I’ll hang back!”

Yatsuhashi tried to grab her around the waist and carry her with his immense strength, only to receive an elbow to his face for his trouble. “Get the hell out of here, Yatsuhashi! Make sure the rest get to safety!” With that, she opened fire, the bullets careening down the hallway to tear through the Grimm, the corpses already starting to dissolve even as their comrades stampeded over them.

Yatsuhashi tried to carry her off again, but Coco was rooted to the spot. Fox and Velvet yelled for them to follow, that they could all escape, but neither of their teammates moved, even as the other three teams kept bolting forward, hoping to make the evac.

Eventually, Yastuhashi took the sword off from across his back and stood with Coco, glancing back at his teammates and giving a nod. Velvet tried to run back to stand with her teammates, only to catch Fox’s arm around her waist, dragging her back and away from the stalwart fashionista and the man with a sword as large as he was. “Yatsuhashi, no!” Velvet cried as Fox threw her over his shoulder and ran.

Ruby could only stare back as the rest of her friends and comrades kept running, listening to the panoply of sounds that reflected back down the hallway towards her. The screams of the dying and injured Grimm. The cranking blasts of Coco’s weapon. The empty shells clattering on the ground as their payload tore out of the barrel. Coco’s own roar of defiance as she stared down the hallway and didn’t let up her assault. Even Yastuhashi’s silence seemed to have its own sound that granted electricity to the air.

Coco had bought her classmates enough time to escape when the chamber of her weapon clicked on empty. Yatsuhashi looked back to Ruby and shoved in front of Coco, his hand pushing her back with force enough to send his leader into Ruby’s arms. “Go, Rose!” he said, bringing his sword down onto the skull of an Ursa Major, cleaving it in half. The ground buckled and the Grimm on the approach stumbled, buying Ruby an extra moment. A moment that she squandered in hesitation.

“Go now!” Yastuhashi told her again, taking up arms against the vile forces that stood before him. Ruby Rose did not need to be told a third time, though Coco railed against Ruby’s grip. Her weapon lay alongside Yastuhashi, spent, just as Coco’s aura was. Ruby used her semblance to dash down the hallway, leaving curls of rose petals in her wake.

Though Coco screamed and shouted, elbowing and slapping at Ruby as best as she could, Ruby still tore down the hallways, dodging the loose Grimm every now and then until she reached the helipad. Only one of the large choppers waited as she passed the exhausted Coco off to Fox and Velvet, the latter’s eyes boiling over with tears for her presumably fallen partner.

Professor Oobleck ushered the students onto the chopper, telling them to strap in as he launched gouts of fire from the end of his thermace up into the sky in order to keep away the incoming swarms of Nevermore. Once all the other students were safe and sound aboard the chopper, Oobleck dashed in and yelled for the pilot to take off.

“Get us out of here, now!” he said, prompting a thumbs-up from the pilot. The blades whirred and lifted the salvation of the last of Beacon’s students up into the sky, soaring across the city to join the other evacuees.

“Pilot, report!” Oobleck said, demanding their status. Their lives may very well depend on the upcoming moments.

“All clear, professor! We’re out!” the pilot of the chopper responded, only to have the sunny cockpit overcast by a remarkably large shadow. “Oh son of a-”

The pilot was cut off when a massive Nevermore pinion, almost as large as the chopper itself, sliced into the cockpit, passing clean through and bisecting the pilot. The chopper began to descend.

“Confound it!” Oobleck said, dashing to one of the remaining seats. “Brace for impact!”

The emergency restraints for the chopper came down over everyone’s shoulders, locking them securely in place. Ren, Pyrrha, and Jaune joined hands while Pyrrha murmured under her breath, presumably a prayer to whatever force could save them.

Ruby stared at them, then at her own team. They were all screaming with various levels of intensity, Yang’s voice being the loudest and most offensive if the color of her language was to be any indication. Coco was passed out. Fox remained remarkably silent, though his eyes were steeled in a state of fury, as if he couldn’t believe that this was how he would die. Velvet had passed out from the stress, and all of team SSSN let out a defiant cry similar to Yang. The chopper continued to descend, closer and closer to the hard, unforgiving stone of the city that had once been their home.

The stone rose up to meet them, buildings not yet overrun, yet still evacuated. Ruby thought it was strange that she was staring her own death in the face, yet she still considered the lives of innocents paramount. So strange…

Though they couldn’t see the altimeter, it descended rapidly. Five hundred feet. Four hundred. Three hundred. Two fifty. Pyrrha had her gaze fixed on the cockpit, staring past the pilot’s blood in the windshield to the stone. She, Jaune, and Ren had all begun to pulse in sync, their auras fluctuating. As Ruby watched, Jaune’s own, usually so massive and bright, dwindled down to a near dim nothingness, the energy feeding through Pyrrha, into Ren.

Ren’s aura swelled as the chopper veered closer and closer to the stone and iron walls of Vale’s buildings. One hundred feet. Seventy five. Fifty. Time seemed to slow down, and Pyrrha shouted out, “Now, Ren!” just before the chopper struck earth. His aura flared, the bright purple energy filling Ruby’s vision, and the chopper slammed into the dirt.

As they struck the ground, Ruby couldn’t help but wonder how many of them would make it. Her head smacked against the back of her seat and she blacked out, the last sound in her ears being Yang’s swearing.


	3. The Will of the Liberator

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The man behind the plan instructs his lieutenants, preparing to begin the next step.

In a darkened room, a man with glowing blue eyes snapped his fingers, causing an arc of electricity to pass between them. The stream of electrons touched to a cigarette dangling out of the corner of his mouth, lighting it and letting the ember smolder. “Report,” he commanded of the man standing in the spotlight before him, those shining blue eyes fixed on the subject of his attention as he watched. His voice was curt, commanding, the voice of a natural leader that had years of experience under his belt, and had no qualms about blasting a hole through one subordinate in order to teach all the others a lesson.

Kaiser Krieg stepped into the spotlight, the sniper rifle he used to sunder Vale’s walls having converted its form to that of the claymore that now laid across his back. “Primary objectives of the mission were successful,” he said calmly, putting his own cigarette into the corner of his mouth and lighting it as casually as possible. It was always hard to be calm and casual when he was faced with the unfaltering, electric gaze of the Liberator. He had always been a hard man, but his intentions were noble as far as Kaiser was concerned.

“You should know better than to give me such curt answers, Mr. Krieg,” the Liberator said flatly, his blue eyes narrowing in the darkness. He took a drag off his smoke, lighting up the side of his face to reveal weather-worn skin and grey facial hair in the dim orange light. “What of our secondary objectives. Ozpin. The academy itself.”

Kaiser inhaled deeply, leaving the cigarette in the corner of his mouth as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I managed to detonate five of our twelve charges, all of which surrounded Beacon Academy. Upon the arrival of Professor Glinda Goodwitch, she took a round to the temple before any serious repairs could have been made to the wall. Reports intercepted from Signal and Mistral indicate that the entire city, including Beacon, was overrun.

“Unfortunately, Ozpin was nowhere to be found,” Kaiser concluded. “With any luck, he’s gone into stasis in the tower, preventing any Grimm –or people- from reaching him. So I believe it is safe to say that Professor Ozpin is completely out of the picture.”

“Then I am afraid that we must disagree,” the Liberator said, standing up and moving closer to Kaiser. He wasn’t quite in the spotlight with Kaiser, but he was close enough that the diminutive sniper could feel the hair on the back of his neck standing on end due to the aura of electricity that surrounded the Liberator.

“If Ozpin is in stasis,” the Liberator said, taking a long draw off his cigarette, “Then he is not completely out of the picture, and that means that he is still dangerous. You did your job well, but now we need to send in a mop-up crew. You managed to eradicate an entire city, as per your mission, but now we need someone with a little more muscle to make sure that Ozpin is not going to be a problem.”

Kaiser nodded. He felt like a failure, like he hadn’t done his job correctly even though the Liberator had told him that he did it to specifications. Call it a personal thing, but Kaiser didn’t much appreciate someone else having to go in and clean up after him. He was a sniper. Quick, surgical, and precise. Mistakes were not in his job description.

“Now, Mr. Krieg,” the Liberator said, turning around and returning to his seat, leaving a small cloud of smoke in his wake. “Go and retrieve Ms. Angelus and Mr. Kodiak. I am going to brief you on the next portion of our mission.”

Kaiser put his right fist over his heart in salute and turned away, stepping outside the Liberator’s chambers to retrieve the individuals requested. Kaiser closed the door behind him and moved into the lobby, past the unseen secretary that somehow managed to screen all the Liberator’s appointments. He took another drag on his cigarette and put it out in a nearby ashtray as Zadkiel and Rufus came into view. “The Liberator wants to see us,” he said with a bitter note in his voice.

Zadkiel Angelus rose from her seat first. She was a tall, willowy woman, the portrait of elegance. To many, she would seem borderline celestial with her skin almost as dark as coal and her shining silver hair. “Sounds like we’re taking the next step,” she said, reaching up to tie her long silver hair into a ponytail. She wore close fitting black garb, suitable for the dark tasks that they had at hand, and shoes that would click on hard floors. If her enemies knew any better, they would know that they should take her approach as a proximity alarm, something to run from, not to.

“And if he needs me,” Rufus Kodiak said as he stood up, towering over the other two, “Then I’ll have to clean up one of your messes, Krieg.” If Kaiser Krieg was the most unassuming man that ever walked the face of the earth, then Rufus Kodiak was his polar opposite. He was Faunus, a bear of a man with bear in his blood. His thick brown hair extended down his arms and across his face, giving him a massive mountain man’s beard. He was at least three times Kaiser’s weight, and he wore it in a combination of heavy muscle and thick fat that was spread evenly across his body. Rufus liked his vittles, and he liked breaking things. Working with Tyrant’s Rending was a job that allowed him to get both in ample quantity.

Kaiser narrowed his eyes at Rufus’ statement, an unspoken threat carrying through the room as he glared coldly at the large Faunus standing before him. “I did my job to the letter, Kodiak,” he said, using the last name with distaste instead of the familiar nickname he used with Zadkiel.

“As shall I,” Rufus said, stretching out his shoulders and threatening to tear the sleeveless shirt he wore as his muscles bulged under his skin. “And my job is to determine that you did yours to the letter. You make the damage. Zadkiel fixes it. I take the reports and break more things if necessary.”

“And we all know how much you love it,” Zadkiel said with a roll of her eyes. “Now, if you are done being children, I would rather not keep the Liberator waiting.” She pushed past the two of them and walked into the Liberator’s office. Kaiser glared at Rufus for a moment before following, and the large man let out a chuckle before he, too, stepped into the dark room.

When all three stood in the spotlight, the Liberator began to speak. “Mr. Krieg has informed me that Glinda Goodwitch has fallen, and that the entire city of Vale has been overrun.” Kaiser’s hackles rose as he felt Rufus letting out an almost subsonic chuckle alongside him. Fallen, the Liberator had said. He didn’t even give Kaiser the credit he was due in front of the others.

“Mr. Kodiak,” the Liberator continued, turning to face Rufus and stare him down with those glowing blue eyes. “Your mission is to go to the top floor of Beacon Academy and remove Professor Ozpin from stasis. Mr. Krieg will serve as your lookout throughout the mission, and Ms. Angelus will walk you through the procedure.”

Rufus’ thick eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he listened to the Liberator’s words before he finally spoke. “Sir, you want me to remove Ozpin from his cozy little winter getaway? Why not just crush his heart while he’s still on lockdown?”

“Because, Mr. Kodiak,” the Liberator said, his voice stringent as he spoke to his underling. “We need to make an example of Ozpin. He is by far the most powerful huntsman in Vale, which means you must show him what Tyrant’s Rending is capable of. Once he is dead, I leave him to your proclivities. Mount his body as you will, and leave it for all to see. Make sure our brand is upon his corpse.”

Rufus’ lips curled into a savage grin and he nodded eagerly. “It shall be done, Liberator. Permission to leave so I may prepare?”

There was a nod from the man in the shadows before he said, “Dismissed, Mr. Kodiak.”

Rufus saluted the Liberator and left, leaving Zadkiel and Kaiser in the Liberator’s office. The Liberator turned to Zadkiel and said, “Rufus is doomed to fail. He is too weak to handle Ozpin, even with your help, and this is going to be our way of culling the weak. Should he succeed, however, make sure he does not survive.”

Now it was Zadkiel’s turn to be confused while Kaiser had to suppress a smile curling at the corners of his mouth. “Liberator, sir,” Zadkiel began, “Why are we removing Rufus from the chain of command?”

The Liberator lit another cigarette, inhaling deeply and lighting up his face once more. Rheumy eyes were set deep in an old face, a face full of wisdom and experience. A face that could be misinterpreted as weak because of its age. “Rufus has become more of a liability to Tyrant’s Rending than an asset. He has become dangerous and unpredictable, and therefore must be terminated. Whether or not he succeeds, this will be his final assignment in service to the greater good.”

His gaze now shifted over to Kaiser before he spoke again, “Mr. Krieg, you are to ensure that such is the case. I know that you and Mr. Kodiak do not have an exceptionally cordial relationship, which disrupts the dynamic of your triumvirate. I assure you that his replacement will fit in better with both of your dynamics.”

Kaiser nodded and said, “Thank you, sir.”

“Dismissed, Mr. Krieg,” the Liberator said, the ember in hand twitching in order to wave off the mousy man with the massive blade. Krieg saluted the Liberator and left, ensuring that only Zadkiel was left in the spotlight for the Liberator to address.

“Ms. Angelus,” the Liberator said cordially.

“Yes, Liberator?” she responded, straightening up and standing at a form of attention.

“These upcoming matters of discussion are of grave importance,” the Liberator said, “Do you understand that?”

“Yes, sir,” Zadkiel responded. She had been serving under him longer than any of the other members of Tyrant’s Rending, and therefore had the most of his trust. Admittedly, that wasn’t much.

“I feel it is time to fill you in on the details of the mission, now, so I expect you to listen carefully and act in my absence upon this information. You understand the mission we tell the recruits, do you not?” he asked, standing and stepping to just outside of the spotlight so his face was barely visible. The Liberator was an average man by all definitions of the word, save for his sense of presence and his eyes. That electric air made Zadkiel’s hair stand up as he started to circle her, smoking and letting out wispy clouds of tainted air as he spoke.

“We tell them that we wish to depose the tyrants in the walled cities, sir,” Zadkiel says as she turns to keep her eyes on the Liberator.

“Correct. And now you see how we have started to do so,” he explains, “But the methods we used for Vale will not suffice for cities like Vacuo and Mistral.”

“Because of the civilian casualties, sir?”

“Precisely, Ms. Angelus,” the Liberator continued. “Nobody knows who destroyed the wall. Many assume it’s the White Fang, and we want to keep up the view that it is a terrorist group instead of folks like us. People with good intentions.”

Zadkiel’s face creased with confusion as she watched the man circle her, flicking the last ember of his cigarette into the darkness and lighting another almost immediately. “The truth of the matter is that the military portion of the organization is only the first step. After Ozpin has been taken care of, we will retake the city. Your job, as you know, is to mend the wall when the time is right. You will repair the walls of Vale, then Mr. Krieg and our ground troops will remove the Grimm infestation, saving the people that managed to survive during that time.”

Now she got it. Zadkiel’s eyes widened as she listened to his words and started to comprehend. “They will see us as their saviors,” she said.

“And they will be devoted and grateful to us,” he explained, his eyes seeming to shine with a brilliant glimmer. “We will have a secure city, an army, and devotees. We will have what we need.”

“To do what, sir?”

“To topple the tyrants of the other cities.”

Zadkiel nodded slowly. Cities united under one banner against the Grimm? That would ensure their continued success against the enemy of all creatures with souls. “So what now, sir?”

“You are to act as my voice, Ms. Angelus,” he said, stopping and turning back to her. “Can I trust you to make the right decisions in the field?”

“Yes, Liberator,” she said, nodding.

“Good. Now go and prepare. We have a city to take.”


	4. Lockdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With no outside assistance readily available, Ruby and Co. have to try and find a safe place in a city full of evil.

The sounds were fuzzy as they rang in Ruby’s ears. Her head throbbed as if her brain had grown three sizes too large, and waved her arms in front of her in frustration, as if she was an impudent child being unpleasantly woken from her nap.

Yang shook Ruby’s shoulders once again and shouted, “Ruby!” The younger girl heard her much more clearly this time, “Ruby, wake up!”

Ruby’s eyes snapped wide open, staring her sister in the face. They were still in the wreckage of the chopper, and the roars of Grimm were not too far away. “Come on!” Yang said, pulling on the shoulder restraints that kept her sister locked into the chair, tearing them free and tossing them aside. “We have to go. They’re close.”

Ruby rolled out of the chair, landing on her feet as she withdrew Crescent Rose from across her back. The other students were standing at the ready, many of them with weapons drawn, though Dr. Oobleck had the still-exhausted Coco draped across his shoulders. “Ms. Rose!” Oobleck said in his usual rapid, excited tone. “We must move! The Grimm are almost upon us!”

Ruby started to move, the others falling in behind her. Yang took up the rear guard while Oobleck kept his pace at the front of the group. After they ran for a bit, the crash site a good thousand feet behind them, Oobleck called out, “Ms. Nikos! The manhole!” as he pointed at the upcoming sewer entrance.

Pyrrha’s hand thrust forward, lifting the manhole up and leaving it in the air. Oobleck jumped in first, pointing the business end of his thermace down and firing away at the waters below. Nora followed, her grenade launcher taking on its hammer form as she did so. One by one, they dove into the sewer, with Pyrrha closing up the manhole after them, ensuring that they could not be followed.

Oobleck waited at the bottom, his thermace held up like a torch, the tip glowing brightly enough to illuminate a large circle of light. He glanced over at Yang, saying, “Ms. Xiao Long, would you be so kind as to offer a little more light?” Yang obliged him by conjuring a ball of flame and holding it aloft.

“Ladies, Gentlemen,” Oobleck began, starting to walk along the walkway at the edge of the sewer. “We are now at war, and we are on the losing side of it thus far. This is nothing like when we fought the Grimm that broke through the wall last year. This is far, far worse.”

“How so?” Sun said, finally speaking up. “Can’t Professor Goodwitch fix the walls again?”

“No,” Oobleck said sadly. “She cannot.”

One by one, the students understood the implications of his statement, the shocked expression traveling through the group and settling on the faces of each and every one of the students. Weiss was the first to speak, “But she’s one of the most powerful Huntresses in Vale! She can’t be… dead…”

“She was one of the most powerful,” Oobleck said, “‘Was’ being the operative word. So were professors Port and Ozpin.”

The murmur of Ozpin’s name went through the crowd with a sense of hushed worry, “Ozpin’s dead?” Velvet asked. “You can’t be serious?”

“In cases like this, we must fear for the worst. We cannot rely on anyone being alive until we find them in such a state,” Oobleck said, his voice deathly serious. “Which is why I will need your assistance in these matters. We cannot wait for the cavalry. As of right now, we are the cavalry,” he explained.

“But we’re trapped in a city with thousands of Grimm!” Weiss said in exasperation, “And a lot of them are borderline ancient! How can you expect us to fight them?”

Oobleck poked his head around the corner and responded, “Very carefully,” taking the lead, the rest of them following. Between the teacher and Yang, the whole group was illuminated rather well, so they could see on all sides. “So please. Still think of me as your teacher. I need you to do so now more than ever, if only because I plan on ensuring that you all get out of here alive.”

The teams that followed him were silent, though there was a sense of assent among all the members. Even Coco patted him on the arm, silence speaking volumes from her unmoving lips.

They moved along carefully, quiet save for Oobleck muttering to himself, contemplating the twists and turns of the sewer tunnels as they marched. Pyrrha put her weapon away, though she kept her shield on her arm and rested her hand on Jaune’s shoulder, squeezing it firmly, but reassuringly. It was for both of them, even if he didn’t realize it. She needed to feel him alongside her, and he needed to be calmed in such a trying time as this.

Similarly, Nora clung onto the back of Ren’s shirt, Magnhild’s grenade launcher form clutched tightly in one hand just in case any Grimm attacked them in the sewer. Ren kept his hands tight on his weapons as well, watching carefully just beyond the lamplight that illuminated the group.

“Ms. Belladona, Mr. Wukong, Ms. Scarlatina,” Dr. Oobleck said, glancing back at the three faunus, “If you would be so kind as to scout ahead and see if there is an exit nearby? I know that you are able to see in the dark better than the rest of us.”

The three of them nodded and started moving, stepping ahead of the rest of the group and fanning out. 

“Mr. Ren, Ms. Xiao Long,” he continued, pointing at Yang and Ren, “Please keep light up for us. While our companions can see in the dark, we cannot. Make sure we are not at a disadvantage.

“Mr. Arc,” he said, looking to Jaune. Jaune jumped and pointed at himself.

“Me?”

“Yes, you. You and Ms. Nikos will be on point. You work well together and can take down anything that comes our way.” Jaune stood up straight and moved ahead with Pyrrha, bolstered by this vote of confidence from his professor.

“Ms. Valkyrie, please maintain the rear guard. If anything nasty comes at us from behind, I am sure that you will be able to ruin their existence with that hammer of yours.” For the first time since the crash, Nora gave her trademark grin and started to watch behind.

“Everyone else, support as necessary. We will make it out alive,” Oobleck concluded, thinking to himself about how he needed to be strong for these kids since they had such a hard fight ahead of them.

Jaune and Pyrrha moved ahead a little, shields and swords in hand. At the drop of a hat, the two of them could form a decent phalanx that spanned the breadth of the walkway of the sewer. She was cool, collected. This was what she had trained for. Granted, it seemed so much worse than any eventuality she could have predicted, but it was part of the job. Jaune, on the other hand, was shaky at best.

In the warm light from Yang’s flame, Jaune’s sword quivered in his hand, his breaths shaky as he glanced about the tunnel, expecting Grimm to jump out at any point. Pyrrha sheathed her sword and rested her hand on his shoulder, and that simple act of contact was enough to make him relax.

“So much has changed,” he said quietly, fear apparent in his voice. “Like… we can never go back to the way things were, Pyrrha.”

She nodded slowly, gaze set forward as they continued to move, “I need you to promise me something, Jaune.”

He glanced over at her, his eyes shining in the flamelight as he waited for her to continue.

Pyrrha rested her hand on his arm, tightening on it slightly. “Promise me that you’ll stay by my side.”

Jaune nodded slowly, his grip tightening on his weapon, “Until the end, Pyrrha.”

Satisfied, Pyrrha took her blade in hand and continued walking along. After a few moments of silence, walking along with the sound of their feet tapping on the stones of the sewer, Oobleck called the group to a halt.

“Wait,” he said, staring down the sewer. As everyone stopped, they began to hear the sounds of running, “They must be coming back.”

In a few moments, Wukong, Velvet, and Sun all came back from their scouting mission at high speed. Their weapons were drawn, and they had expressions of fear on their faces. “There’s Grimm in the sewers!” Velvet said, her face fraught with distress.

“How many,” asked Oobleck flatly, moving to the front of the group.

“We couldn’t get a count,” Blake responded, catching her breath, “We just know they’re following us.”

“What variety are they?” Oobleck demanded, stepping forward and levelling his thermace down the tunnel, already hearing the growls and snarls of the approaching Grimm.

“Nile,” Sun responded, “They appear to be Nile. Some big ones there too. Really big, like ancient.”

Oobleck snarled and nodded to Pyrrha and Jaune, who moved forward and locked their shields together, swords at the ready. He turned back to the rest of the group and started giving orders. “Ms. Xiao Long, take up position behind Mr. Arc and fire off rounds when the enemy gets too close. Ms. Valkyrie, cover our flank. Nile have been known to take aquatic routes in order to gain advantage through surprise attack. Watch the sewage, since that is not beneath them. Mr. Fox, cover Ms. Valkyrie with supporting fire. Ms. Rose, stay towards the back and take out as many as you can before they even get close. The rest of you, guard the wounded and provide support as needed. You have your orders, form up!”

Everyone leapt to their positions, Jaune and Pyrrha’s shields interlocking to form a wall, with their swords at the ready, Nora preparing Manghild to fire grenades into the water, Ruby’s scythe blade planting into the ground as she prepared to fire away down the tunnel. She stared into her scope, watching carefully, waiting with tension that was so thick that one could cut it with a knife.

Ruby’s breath hitched as she saw the red eyes of the Nile coming closer and closer. They were squat, low to the ground, and moving faster than she expected. From Professor Port’s lectures, she remembered that they had long heads, great jaws, and stayed in the water more often than not. Nora would have her work cut out for her.

“They’re here!” Ruby called, and she started firing rounds down the tunnel, her five-round clip emptied quickly, five dead Grimm showcasing Crescent Rose’s power. “Reloading!” She called, and dropped out the empty clip to slam a new one in, just like clockwork. She kept firing just as Sun called out a warning.

“On our left!” he said, taking the shotgun portions of his weapons and firing away at the Grimm that started to loop around the opposite side of the river of sewage. The Grimm were relentless, clambering over the bodies of their dead, no matter how many of them died. At the front, Jaune and Pyrrha struck in sync, their shields blocking snapping jaws and raking claws as they cut through their foes with ease. Jaune saw several of the Nile slip into the water and submerge, causing him to give command as well.

“Neptune, the water!” He said, prompting Neptune to drive the tip of his glaive into the water, the electricity coursing through the water and burning the Grimm where they swam. Neptune simply kept the electrified head of his weapon in the sewage, occasionally sending pulses of intense electricity through the water to fry any and all Nile that dipped in even just a little bit.

As such, Nora was allowed to redirect her attention to the Grimm that circled around their left flank, jumping and trying to cross the electrified sewage to snap up one of the huntsmen-to-be in their jaws. Any and all attempts they made were futile, as they were met with heart-imprinted grenades from Nora, razor-bladed punches from Fox, or bursts of flame from the tip of Dr. Oobleck’s thermace. Since the flank was well defended, Sun moved ahead to stand behind Pyrrha and engage in close-quarters fire alongside Yang. Blake took his place, Gambol Shroud changing from pistol to sword to strike down any enemies that dared to approach.

Even after a short while of fighting against what was quickly becoming a seemingly infinite tide, the fighters started to feel exhausted. Even when team RWBY went outside the walls of Vale with Dr. Oobleck, they didn’t fight in such a prolonged conflict. Even when Ren stepped in to fight after making sure Coco –still exhausted– was safe, they saw no end to the charge of the Nile. Neptune was expending so much aura by putting charges of electricity through the sewage that it got to a point where he was only slowing down or knocking out the older ones rather than killing them. “I can’t go anymore!” He called out, his breath heavy as Nora blasted a Nile that was about to take off Neptune’s head in one bite. “We have to fall back!”

“We can do this, Neptune!” Sun told his teammate, continuing to fire away at the Grimm as well as smack those that were getting too close. Sage stepped in and defended against the Nile that were in the water now that Neptune was no longer sending electrical shocks through it. Ruby scanned ahead and saw no end to the Grimm before them, her face quickly becoming despondent.

“We can’t,” she said quietly before pulling away from the scope. “Doctor Oobleck! There’s no end to them!”

Dr. Oobleck paused in his administration of flame and beatings to glance down the tunnel, his eyes narrowing to see what awaited them. “She’s right. Fall back! Ms. Valkyrie, keep firing into the water. Mr. Arc, Ms. Nikos, maintain the wall. Everyone else: Run! Try and find a ladder up!”

They had their orders, and they ran. Jaune and Pyrrha started moving backwards, their heads turning to look behind them until there was enough of a gap between the rest of their classmates and themselves. “Pyrrha, go! I’ll cover you!” Jaune told her, prompting her to turn and run. Just as she did, an ancient Nile clamped its jaws around Jaune’s shield, almost swallowing it whole.

“Jaune!” She said, readying her rifle and taking aim. But he and the Grimm were too close together. She couldn’t get a clear shot.

“Go… to… HELL!” Jaune said, his aura swelling and pulsing bright, white light filling the tunnel and pushing all the darkness and dark creatures away. Pyrrha felt the warm, bright light wash over her, and watched as he stood in the tunnel, breathing heavily before he turned and ran with her. “I don’t know how long they’ll stay away. We have to keep moving.”

Pyrrha just stared at her teammate in awe, surprised that he had managed to create such a strong pulse of aura in such a life-threatening situation. Jaune didn’t stop to ponder it, instead clamping his hand around her wrist and pulling her along. Pyrrha went with him. They didn’t have time for her to stop and think about this.

In a matter of moments, they found the rest of the group. Nora climbed up the ladder and blasted the manhole off the sewer. “Clear!” she called out to everyone, causing them to clamber up the ladder. Dr. Oobleck ushered them up, with Sun carrying Coco rather arduously.

“Mr. Arc, Ms. Nikos! Go up! I will be along shortly,” he told them, keeping his thermace pointed down the tunnel at the Grimm. “Oh, blast.”

“Doctor Oobleck!” Weiss yelled down the manhole, “Please hurry!”

“I am afraid not, Ms. Schnee. You will have to go on without me. The Nile can climb up this ladder rather easily, which would keep you in danger,” he explained, firing off blasts of flame down the tunnel. “Go on! I will find you.”

“Doctor Oobleck,” Ruby said despondently as she rested a hand on his shoulder.

“Now is not the time for goodbyes, Ms. Rose. You shall see me again, alive and unspoiled.” His words were a solemn promise, emphasized by the wry smile he gave her as he turned back to the remaining students. Ruby gave a nod, her face set in grim determination, and climbed up the ladder.

She was the last one out, with Scarlet and Sage assisting. “Where’s the professor?” Scarlet asked, concerned.

“He’s buying us time,” Ruby said, “He told us that he’ll meet us when we’re all safe.”

“But what if he won’t,” Sage said, his deep voice almost angry.

“He’ll be fine. He can outrun the Nile easily, and he’s a huntsman. He can handle it!”

“Professor Goodwitch was a huntress too,” Fox said flatly, glancing around. “We need to find shelter. Someplace we can defend easily should the need arise.”

Yang spoke up, “I know a place. We’re on Oum Street, right? There’s a bar not too far from here. The owner is a retired huntsman.”

“How do you know that the place will still be intact?”

“Because the owner will be there,” she explained, starting to move on, keeping quiet just in case there were Grimm nearby.

That made everyone pause for a moment. “I thought everyone evacuated,” Neptune said, still trying to catch his breath. His aura was spent; he needed rest.

“They did,” Yang said, nodding.

“Then how can you be sure that he’ll be there?” asked Blake.

“Because Thumb would never leave his place to the hands of another.”


End file.
